Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 02:45

Nell, The Park Forest Middle School students and I are reading your posts each day and they lead to great discussions. Thanks for sharing your experiences and your photos! I have a student teacher who is visiting from Norway. She goes to university at just about the same latitude north as you will be in the south at Palmer Station. Pretty interesting. I am sure you have had a little tension the past couple of days with flights and luggage, but you seem to be holding up well.

Bruce wants to know if you've seen whales from the boat. Is the sea rough or calm? Any other unusual wildlife (unusual to us here)?

Looking forward to reading and seeing more soon!

Steve McAninch

Nell Herrmann

Hi Steve,Thanks for the note! It's great to hear from you. We made came out of the Straits of Magellan last night and are now in the Drake Passage. The waters here are a bit more "bumpy," but the ride is actually pretty comfortable. I'll be posting a journal later with some photos of life on board the ship. Tell Bruce I said hello! And no, we haven't seen any whales yet, but some folks caught a glimpse of some hourglass dolphins. I've seen giant petrels, terns, southern cormorants and Antarctic skuas so far. Oh and lots of Macrophytis--large kelp--floating in the water.
Keep in touch!
--Nell